Peeing in bed and knocking sh*t over

[jperry]

Hi All,

My little guy is surely living up to his name. I named my cat Pita (aka Pain in the Ass) and I don't know if this is self fulfilling prophecy or what.

He's 2 years of age and I just moved apartments for the first time with him. The space is definitely smaller and had to get rid of his cat tree (bought cat steps though, should be arriving soon), and he's not adjusting well. He's with one of the same roommates from the last apartment, but it's only her and I, compared to three other people before.

He peed on my roommate's bed twice and now twice; he's never done this before. His litter box is usually pretty clean. He also knocks down things in my room for about two hours each night. I literally have to remove all the breakable things each night, so that he doesn't knock them down. I've begun ignoring him this past week, per online sources, so I'm hoping this will work...anyone have any luck doing that strategy? How long did it take for your cat to get it? I play with him once a night for about 30 min-1hour and I'm working mostly remotely now, so I'm home more. I'm not sure what's up with my guy? Anyone have any sense?

We'll be going to the vet next week and I'm thinking of asking for a behavior health referral. Any luck for anyone?

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi-- try museum putty for the breakables, and maybe there's something here;

9 Tips That Will Help Your Kitten Adapt To A New Apartment – TheCatSite Articles

You might pick up some Cat Attract litter and also some unscented puppy pee pads for the interim until this gets resolved.

Try some cat music, it's surprisingly effective, there's Spotify, youtube, RelaxMyCat and MusicForCats as sources.

 

[Sean35]

Try some cat music, it's surprisingly effective, there's Spotify, youtube, RelaxMyCat and MusicForCats as sources.

My only suggestion regarding music would be to try and download it yourself or obtain it from an ad-free source. I can only imagine that the impact of 15 minutes of relaxing cat music can get undone pretty quickly when there is 5 seconds of "LOOK LIMU, SOMEONE NEEDS HELP SAVING ON INSURANCE!" randomly thrown in at about 10 decibels higher volume.

 

[ArtNJ]

I think there is an issue of whether he is stressed by the move, or bored and discovered a new fun game and way to get your attention in the knocking stuff over. The fact that its only at night suggests it might have nothing to do with the move and just be a new fun game that works to get your attention. Cats can discover such things at any time in their life, sometimes seemingly randomly. Your notion to put stuff away and ignore the cat at night is an excellent solution *if* this is a newly discovered way to get your attention when the cat is bored. It likely won't work if the cat is acting out because of the move, but this wouldn't be a typical way for a cat to react to stress, so my money is on it being to get your attention. So removing or securing the breakables and ignoring the noise at night should work over time.

Peeing in the bed is unusual for a two year old, but could also be a couple of things. It could be a UTI for one. If you exclude the cat from the bedroom and he starts peeing elsewhere that is a signal its time for a vet visit. It could be stress from the move -- that would be a more typical response than knocking stuff over only at night. Either way, I'd exclude from the bedroom for a couple of weeks if you can. Failing that, put the bedding away during the day or I just read a suggestion to buy an extra shower curtain to put on the bed. Either way, the hope is that if you break the habit, in a couple of weeks you can stop worrying about it and go back to normal.

 

[cataholic07]

First and foremost vet trip. A move is stressful and stress causes a UTI so you need to rule that out first. And no matter how small your apartment is you need to have a cat tree. Even a small one by the window, it's important for cats to have that and then you can add extra territory like cat shelves that don't take up much space. You can get some that are custom made to fit in your space but still be safe and not one that will fall over

Also he's only 2 years old, so he will have a ton of energy still. If your place is smaller it means less room to run off energy so be sure to do lots of wand toy play time.